NOVEL II Lecture 13 Based on Movie: To the L

Synopsis Thinking Teasers A Visual analysis of To the Lighthouse

Thinking Teaser Based on Movie: To the L

Thinking Teaser What are some of the main themes in To the Lighthouse, and what do they convey about the society of its time? How does Woolf’s use of symbolism advance her thematic goals? Main Themes in the Novel Use of Symbolism to advance the thematic goal of the narrative

Thematic structure Based on Movie: To the L

The Transience of Life and Work Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay take completely different approaches to life: he relies on his intellect, while she depends on her emotions. But they share the knowledge that the world around them is transient—that nothing lasts forever. Mr. Ramsay reflects that even the most enduring of reputations, such as Shakespeare’s, are doomed to eventual oblivion. This realization accounts for the bitter aspect of his character.

Frustrated by the inevitable demise of his own body of work and envious of the few geniuses who will outlast him, he plots to found a school of philosophy that argues that the world is designed for the average, unadorned man, for the “liftman in the Tube” rather than for the rare immortal writer.

Mrs. Ramsay is as keenly aware as her husband of the passage of time and of mortality. She recoils, for instance, at the notion of James growing into an adult, registers the world’s many dangers, and knows that no one, not even her husband, can protect her from them. Her reaction to this knowledge is markedly different from her husband’s.

Whereas Mr. Ramsay is bowed by the weight of his own demise, Mrs Whereas Mr. Ramsay is bowed by the weight of his own demise, Mrs. Ramsay is fueled with the need to make precious and memorable whatever time she has on earth. Such crafted moments, she reflects, offer the only hope of something that endures.

Frame Selection/ Content Time Frame Movie starts from Cornwall 1912 00:00 - Family members sitting around dinning table James is being punished for insisting on his will – going to lighthouse The protagonist is shown talking to herself being highly imaginative Mrs. Ramsay taking notes in her diary Relationship between Mr. Charles and Mr. Ramsay is established Mr. Ramsay attitude towards his family is made explicitly understandable by James loss of wicket during cricket match

Exchange of opinions between Mr. Charles and Lily (feminism) Gender biased perceptions Mr. Tansley takes a stroll with Mrs. Ramsey Masculine sport: wrestling Feminine and yet philanthropic nature of Mrs. Ramsey 00 :00 – 16:00 16

Art as a Means of Preservation In the face of an existence that is inherently without order or meaning, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay employ different strategies for making their lives significant. Mr. Ramsay devotes himself to his progression through the course of human thought, while Mrs. Ramsay cultivates memorable experiences from social interactions.

Neither of these strategies, however, proves an adequate means of preserving one’s experience. After all, Mr. Ramsay fails to obtain the philosophical understanding he so desperately desires, and Mrs. -Ramsay’s life, though filled with moments that have the shine and resilience of rubies, ends. Only Lily Briscoe finds a way to preserve her experience, and that way is through her art.

As Lily begins her portrait of Mrs As Lily begins her portrait of Mrs. Ramsay at the beginning of the novel, Woolf notes the scope of the project: Lily means to order and connect elements that have no necessary relation in the world—“hedges and houses and mothers and children.” By the end of the novel, ten years later, Lily finishes the painting she started, which stands as a moment of clarity wrested from confusion.

Art is, perhaps, the only hope of surety in a world destined and determined to change: for, while mourning Mrs. Ramsay’s death and painting on the lawn, Lily reflects that “nothing stays, all changes; but not words, not paint.”

After Watching wresting 16:00 - 24:10 Mr. Tansley’s attitude His speech Mrs. Tansley’s interest in Chalres Teacher-student talk and Ramsey’s monologue Mrs. Tansley’s regret of her formal education Nancy’s plea for their privacy during vacations Mr. Ram talk to Mrs. Mrs. Ram knitting for Lighthouse keeps’ son 16:00 – 24:10 8

Lily is envious to see Nancy being much loved Talk between Nancy and Lily, exploring philosophy of world and natures of individuals 24:10 - 28:00 Lily is envious to see Nancy being much loved On the hand Nancy is not happy with Thet inspected life James’ request to his mother for going to the lighthouse 4

The Subjective Nature of Reality Toward the end of the novel, Lily reflects that in order to see Mrs. Ramsay clearly—to understand her character completely—she would need at least fifty pairs of eyes; only then would she be privy to every possible angle and nuance.

The truth, according to this assertion, rests in the accumulation of different, even opposing vantage points. Woolf’s technique in structuring the story mirrors Lily’s assertion. She is committed to creating a sense of the world that not only depends upon the private perceptions of her characters but is also nothing more than the accumulation of those perceptions. To try to reimagine the story as told from a single character’s perspective or—in the tradition of the Victorian novelists—from the author’s perspective is to realize the radical scope and difficulty of Woolf’s project.

The Restorative Effects of Beauty At the beginning of the novel, both Mr. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe are drawn out of moments of irritation by an image of extreme beauty. The image, in both cases, is a vision of Mrs. Ramsay, who, as she sits reading with James, is a sight powerful enough to incite “rapture” in William Bankes.

Beauty retains this soothing effect throughout the novel: something as trifling as a large but very beautiful arrangement of fruit can, for a moment, assuage the discomfort of the guests at Mrs. Ramsay’s dinner party.

Lily later complicates the notion of beauty as restorative by suggesting that beauty has the unfortunate consequence of simplifying the truth. Her impression of Mrs. Ramsay, she believes, is compromised by a determination to view her as beautiful and to smooth over her complexities and faults.

Nevertheless, Lily continues on her quest to “still” or “freeze” a moment from life and make it beautiful. Although the vision of an isolated moment is necessarily incomplete, it is lasting and, as such, endlessly seductive to her.

Paul has come to propose miss. Ramsey The guest is found dead in bed Mr. Ramsay considers living with family is : achieved nothing just a consolation prize 28:00 - 42:00 Paul has come to propose miss. Ramsey The guest is found dead in bed Mrs. Ramsey shares her fears of dying before Mr. Ramsey with Lily Discussing loneliness as a feeling Discussion based on relationship between man and woman (you have become half a person) 14

“Carolina I am sick of your philanthropy…” 42:00 – 56:00 “Carolina I am sick of your philanthropy…” The philosophy of relationship between mind and body – Supervisor and supervisee during a game of badminton Mr. Michel _ his professional ethics and responsibilities Lily’s monologue Carolina is sick, inside bedroom away from her household…. “it’s a sleeping beauty” A girl’s doubts and inner self is revealed through the talk between Carolina and Prue “ why this particular man, what will happen when he turns 60….” 14+42: 56

Use of Symbolism to advance the thematic goal Based on Movie: To the L

Woolf’s use of symbolism James gives us a clue as to how to interpret symbols in To the Lighthouse. As he finally draws the Ramsays’ boat up to the lighthouse, he considers two competing, and seemingly contradictory, meanings of the lighthouse.

The first depends upon the lighthouse as it appeared to him as a child; then, it was a “silvery, mist-colored tower” and seemed to suggest the vague, romantic quality of the past. The second meaning stands in opposition, for, as James nears the lighthouse and sees its barred windows and laundry drying on the rocks, there is nothing romantic about it. He resolves, however, to honor the truth of both images, deciding that “nothing [is] simply one thing.”

Like James’s interpretation of the lighthouse, the dominant symbols in the novel demand open readings. Mrs. Ramsay wrapping her shawl around the boar’s head can be read merely as protection of her impressionable children from the unsightly suggestion of death, but it can also be read as a selfish attempt to keep from them a profound and inescapable truth.

Choosing one option or the other diminishes the complexity of the novel’s symbols and characters. Woolf resists formulaic symbols, whereby one entity straightforwardly stands for another; she thus places us in the same position as her characters.

The world of the novel is not filled with solidly or surely determined truths. Rather, truth, as Lily points out, must be collected from an endless number of impressions—she wishes that she had more than fifty pairs of eyes with which to view Mrs. Ramsay and understand her. We must approach the symbolism of To the Lighthouse with the same patience for multiple meanings.

Review Lecture 13 Thinking Teasers A Visual analysis of To the Lighthouse